Republicans: Two for Two in Two Days

Yesterday we had the Republican national congressional Committee suggesting that another man “put Speaker Pelosi in her place” (I guess they are too scared or weak to do it themselves . . . .) and today we have a vote in the Senate that illustrates the same mindset.

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and “warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.” (Jones was not an isolatedcase.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Senator Al Franken offered an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill to stop the practice of contractors using arbitration to cover-up crimes committed by their own employees. His amendment passed, but there were thirty old white Republicans guys who didn’t vote for it. There is no excuse for this, but Jeff Sessions gave it the college try, suggesting that the amendment directly targeted one of his friends (Halliburton). Sad.